[ Academia ] [ Litigation ] [ Regulatory & Policy ] [ Transactional ] as a Foundational Course : This interdisciplinary seminar is a key course for students focused on climate change and conservation issues. It examines ways to protect ecosystems and biodiversity in a specific region of the U.S. Students considering a career in environmental law may want to take one or more courses focusing on conservation and natural resources issues.

General course
Description:

How to adapt to climate change is an increasingly important issue, and no where more than in the field of conservation. The U.S. Department of the Interior, the Council on Environmental Quality, NOAA, and other federal, state, and local agencies are all examining how best to address the challenge. For example, how can the government and non-profits such as The Nature Conservancy best protect ecosystems and the species that inhabit them as the climate to which they are habituated changes? This interdisciplinary seminar chooses a western region of the United States and examines what scientists believe will be necessary to protect ecosystems and biodiversity in that region, whether our current laws and institutions are up to the task, and how those laws and institutions can be
improved. The seminar includes students both from the Law School and from relevant scientific fields (e.g., biology, climate science, economics). Seminar sessions include (1) discussions of the existing literature examining adapation to climate change (particularly in the context of conservation), (2) outside speakers from conservation and governmental organizations working on issues of adaptation, and (3) factual analyses of the study region. Students in the class participate in various empirical studies of the study region relevant to the questions of whether existing laws and institutions are up to the task of conservation in the face of climate change and of how those laws and institutions could be improved. Students then prepare analyses based on that empirical information. The results of the seminar form the basis for chapters in a book to be published on the topic of conservation and climate change.

Course Style: A Substantive course teaches the law, theory, and policy in a particular area of law